ANAHEIM – After what was served up to the viewing public over a 21-hour or so stretch of Friday and Saturday, there better be plenty of thrills and chills in Houston next weekend or it could be something of an anti-climatic Final Four.

OK, maybe that’s a stretch.

But when was the last time a cumulative day’s worth of NCAA Tournament action gave us the likes of (in this order):

Butler rallying from 11points down in the second half to knock off Florida to return to the Final Four;

Connecticut players and coaches holding their collective breath as two 3-point attempts by Arizona rimmed off the iron in the final eight seconds to help the Huskies escape the Honda Center on Saturday evening with reservations for Houston.

Yep, CBS (which is broadcasting all regional finals this weekend) and the Turner Networks are getting a lot of bang for those bit NCAA broadcast rights bucks they are doling out.

Of course, two regional semifinals played earlier Friday evening (when North Carolina and Kansas had all but their own faithful channel surfing early and often while removing any suspense early against Marquette and Richmond), would suggest otherwise those other four games help build that “there is no truly dominant team this season” theory.

In fact, the one team that seemed to fit that “they’re a cut above everyone else” motif – Ohio State – was bounced by a Kentucky team that replaced five first-round selections in last June’s NBA draft.

Two other No. 1 seeds had already been banished to spring break, Pittsburgh falling to No. 8 seed Butler in its second game eight days ago and Duke getting punched out – by 16 points! – Thursday night at Honda Center.

The last of the top seeds – Kansas, which takes a 35-2 records into its Southwest final with VCU today – has a chance to force a revisiting to the “no dominant team” mantra if the Jayhawks return to Texas later this week and bop Butler around on Saturday and whichever team it would face in the April 4 finale.

First things first, though: Let’s see how Bill Self’s team holds up today against Shaka Smart’s VCU team that so convincingly outplayed “favored” USC, Georgetown and Purdue by a combined margin of 49 points before attacking the Florida State’s supposed “best half-court defense in the country” much more effectively than pretty much anyone was able to do in the Seminoles’ Atlantic Coast Conference.

Other tourney thoughts

After Duke knocked off Butler in last season’s title game, the Blue Devils’ Kyle Singler – the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player – surprised many by deciding to bypass the NBA draft and return for his senior season.

Once Bulldogs’ forward Gordon Hayward declared for the draft (he was selected in the first round by Utah last June), it supposedly dash any possibility Brad Stevens’ program would somehow make a second consecutive “magical run” to the Final Four.

A stretch of four losses in five Horizon Conference January-February games only seemed to confirm that presumption.

Nearly two months and 13wins later, Stevens’ Bulldogs’ will be suiting up this weekend in Houston and Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils might be playing pickup games in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Stop me if you’ve heard/read this before about most any goal that demands a lot of concentrated effort over a period of time: It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Try as I might, I can’t recall of a team winning a regional championship while playing in a venue in which the opposition had the kind of overwhelming edge in fan support as Connecticut faced while beating San Diego State Thursday night and Arizona Saturday evening in the Honda Center.

Keep this in mind this weekend: They’ve only lost (nine times) to Big East Conference completion this season and there aren’t going to be any other Big East team in Houston.

Arizona followers shouldn’t be disappointed when – as just about everyone who scouts NBA talent for a living expects – sophomore forward Derrick Williams eventually announces he’s not going to be a junior forward for the Wildcats.

Assuming freshmen Kyrie Irving (Duke) and Harrison Barnes (North Carolina) are also in the draft, it’s possible the La Mirada High graduate goes no later than No. 3, overall, in the next NBA draft in June.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.